
PRIDE AND LOVE ARE STRANGERS
8.
From the example of Israel, what may we learn concerning the dan-
ger facing God's children in prosperity? If God be forgotten and pride
enter, what is inevitable? Deut. 8:11-14, 17-20.
9.
How does God regard the proud heart? Ps. 101:5, last part.
NOTE.—"It is God who gives men power to get wealth k and in the hands
of him who acts as God's steward, using his means unselfishly, wealth is a
blessing, both to its possessor and to the world. But many, absorbed in their
interest in worldly treasures, become insensible to the claims of God and the
needs of their fellow men. They regard their wealth as a means of glorifying
themselves. They add house to house, and land to land; they fill their homes
with luxuries, while all about them are human beings in misery and crime, in
disease and death. Those who thus give their lives to self-serving are develop-
ing in themselves, not the attributes of God, but the attributes of the wicked
one."—"Ministry of Healing,"
pp. 212, 213.
10.
What brought about the downfall of Lucifer? Isa. 14:12-16.
11.
With what sins of the last days is pride associated? 2 Tim. 3:2.
12.
What manifestations of pride did Jesus note? What opposite course
did Christ counsel for His disciples? Matt. 23:5-12.
13.
Why cannot love commingle with pride? 1 Cor. 13:4, last part.
NOTE.—"Whenever pride and ambition are indulged, the life is marred;
for pride, feeling no need,, closes the heart against the infinite blessings of
Heaven. He who makes self-glorification his aim will find himself destitute
of the grace of God, through whose efficiency the truest riches and the most
satisfying joys are won. But he who gives all and does all for Christ will know
the fulfillment of the promise, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and
He addeth no sorrow with it." With the gentle touch of grace, the Saviour
banishes from the soul unrest and unholy ambition, changing enmity to love,
and unbelief to confidence. When He speaks to the soul, saying, 'Follow Me,'
the spell of the world's enchantment is broken. At the sound of His voice, the
spirit of greed and ambition flees from the heart, and men arise, emancipated,
to follow
Him."—"Prophets. and Kings,"
p. 60.
SELF-SEEKING AND ANGER
14.
What should be the Christian's attitude toward others? Rom. 12:10.
15.
What counsel are God's children given concerning self-control?
Eph. 4:31, 32; James 1:19, 20.
NOTE.—"Let Christ, the divine Life, dwell in you, and through you reveal
the heaven-born love that will inspire hope in the hopeless, and bring heaven's
peace to the sin-stricken heart. As we come to God, this is the condition
which meets us at the threshold, that, receiving mercy from Him, we yield
ourselves to reveal His grace to others."—"Mount
of Blessing,"
p. 167.
16.
What natural traits of character will not therefore be seen in the
life of one who loves God? 1 Cor. 13:4, 5, first part.
NOTE.—Love, through • Christ's dwelling in the heart, will manifest itself
in every attribute of life. Envy cannot abide where Christ reigns supreme.
Pride is utterly absent from the life of the surrendered Christian, and with
Paul he will exclaim, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
[ 17 )